Perennial International Track star for Nigeria; Gloria Asumnu who is based and trains out of Houston Texas, USA took to the track on Saturday January 30th in the 60 meters dash for women.

Taking on the likes of Michelle Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago Erica Alexander and Bianca Knight of the USA she had her work cut out for her as she easily qualified in her semi-final event into the finals. During her warm up for the finals the star athlete was very focused as she was not only getting ready for her final showdown for her event but seemingly the rest of the year which will culminates with the Rio Olympics in Brazil this summer.

The Hala Mosir sports venue in Szczecin played host to five thrilling bouts of WSB boxing on Saturday night as the Russian Boxing Team conjured up a spirited fight back from 2-0 down to beat Rafako Hussars Poland 3-2.

A tight flyweight bout between the Hussars’ German 24-year-old Hamza Touba and Russia’s Ovik Ogannisian saw Touba recover from a slow start to put his opponent on the back foot with a stirring finish, taking a crucial fifth round to give the hosts the early advantage.

Namibia Celebrates win over South Africa Photo credit © ICC

Qualifier Namibia upset defending champion South Africa by two wickets in a thrilling chase to join host Bangladesh in the quarterfinals from Group A of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup on Sunday.

The 2016 IAAF World Indoor Tour will get underway in just over a week with the Karlsruhe indoor meeting in Germany set to raise the curtain on this new series on Saturday 6 February.
The four meetings in this year’s tour will all be staged during a two-week period in February and are:
- Karlsruhe indoor meeting (Karlsruhe, GER), Saturday 6 February
- New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (Boston, USA), Sunday 14 February
- Globen Galan (Stockholm, SWE), Wednesday 17 February
- Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix (Glasgow, GBR), Saturday 20 February

Lausanne, 29 January 2016 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the arbitration procedure between the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation (BWF) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The BWF remains banned from entering the next edition of the Olympic Games. However, the fine of USD 500,000 imposed on the BWF is set aside.
 
In December 2015, the BWF filed an appeal at the CAS against the decision taken by the IWF President on 9 November 2015 in which the BWF was fined USD 500,000 and banned from entering the next Olympic Games after 11 of its athletes were found to have committed anti-doping rule violations.

31 January 2015 - Following various reports in the media over the last few days regarding the coming FIFA Presidential elections, the South African Football Association (SAFA) reiterates its statement made last week that it has requested an update from the FIFA Presidential candidate, Mr Tokyo Sexwale, following a mandate to do so by the SAFA National Executive Committee (NEC).

Mr Sexwale has not had an opportunity to present an update on his campaign since his endorsement by the NEC in October 2015 as a result of his commitments related to his campaign.

Mali came from behind to beat Tunisia 2-1 on Sunday in Kigali and book a historic place at the last four.
 
Abdoulaye Diarra scored the winner on 80 minutes after Aliou Dieng had canceled Mohamed Ali Monser first half opener after the break.

The NBA and FIBA held the first-ever Basketball without Borders (BWB) Global Camp at NBA All-Star 2015 in New York

MIES/NEW YORK - The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) on Friday announced the top 53 boys and girls from 27 countries who will travel to Toronto for the second annual Basketball without Borders (BWB) Global Camp.

Lausanne, Switzerland, January 29, 2016 – For many people, volleyball is a passion to live for 365 days a year, but in 2016 everyone will have an extra day as 2016 is a leap year and February will have 29 days. This has inspired the European Confederation to launch “One Day More for Volleyball.”
 
The project, enthusiastically joined by the Italian Federation, will see demonstration games played on February 29 with each game consisting of one set of 29 points.  

The Bahamas has been awarded the 2017 edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games, it was announced today, aiming to unite 1000 young athletes aged 14-18 in a Caribbean carnival of impactful competition, personal development and new Commonwealth friendships.

The 6th edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games will take place from 19-23 July 2017 in the nation’s capital, Nassau and seven sports are proposed: Aquatics (Swimming), Athletics (Track and Field), Boxing, Cycling (Road), Judo, Rugby Sevens and Tennis.  It will be the first time Judo has been presented at a Commonwealth Youth Games.

SALT LAKE CITY (2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament) - If Cameroon can win three games at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament to be held in Nantes, France from 13-19 June, they will write the brightest chapter in the country's basketball history.

Three wins is all the Cameroonians need in order to secure one of the five places at stake for the 2016 Olympics.

Photo credit © ICC
Four Asian sides – India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka –advanced to the Super League quarter-finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh with their second successive wins on Saturday.

India and Nepal, which took the two top spots in Group D at the expense of New Zealand and Ireland, will clash on Monday in their last league match to decide the group winner. The match will be produced by the ICC TV and will be aired around the world by 15 broadcasters.

Houston Texas January 30th 2016: On a rather balmy day in Houston Texas, Zambia’s sprint sensation and national record holder Gerald Phiri returned to the track after almost three years of setback and injuries in the 60 meters’ open dash event at the University of Houston annual indoor track meet.

With much anticipation Gerald took to the track and as the gun went off he took the lead and command of his heat but will be nipped at the finish line for first place as he let up. However, the Zambian National record holder in the 100 and 60 meters would come away with a very good time of 6.82 seconds which showed not only the progress he has made since his return from injury to full time training out of his base in Florida USA but how prepared he is to take on the World’s best. Expressing himself later on after the event at the cool down venue of the track he said “I am disappointed at my performance because I know I can do better”.

MIES (3x3) - The web version of the 3x3 Event Maker - FIBA's free software and official tournament management tool for all FIBA-endorsed 3x3 events - has just graduated from private Beta to public Beta. It is now possible to create, manage and promote 3x3 basketball events using any device with a browser, from tablets to PCs and Macs.

Favourites Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast needed extra-time goals to beat Rwanda and Cameroon to reach the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship on Saturday.

DR Congo, winners of the inaugural competition in 2009, beat hosts Rwanda 2-1 in the first quarter-final at a sold-out Amahoro national stadium in Kigali.

The ICC Board will gather at the ICC headquarters in Dubai on Thursday, 4 February, for the first round of meetings of 2016. In the lead up to these meetings, various other committee meetings, including the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) meeting, will take place.
 The schedule includes the following meetings: 
-       ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (Mon)
-       HR & Remuneration Committee and Governance Committee (Tue)
-       Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee and Executive Committee (Wed)
-       ICC, IDI and IBC Board meetings (Thu)

DR Congo cut short the campaign of host Rwanda beating them 2-1 in their quarter-final clash on Saturday in Kigali.
 
Central defender Padou Bompunga headed home the winner in extra time as the Congolese eased into the last four for the first time since 2009, ending the hopes of Amavubi, who gave their all yet not enough.

ICC Women’s Championship braces itself for some exciting, entertaining and highly competitive cricket over the next couple of weeks when leading sides, which include some of the top performers in the women’s cricket, go head to head with an aim to strengthen their claims of directly qualifying for next year’s ICC Women’s World Cup in England.
 
Co-leader Australia hosts seventh-placed India in a three-match ODI series, starting in Canberra on 2 February, while an unbeaten fourth-placed South Africa hosts fifth-placed England in Benoni in first of the three ODIs on 7 February.

Ndtoungou Mpile Martin (Head Coach, Cameroon)

I’m not going to talk about tactics but I promise it will be a good match. We were in a very difficult group with DR Congo, Angola and Ethiopia but we were able to achieve our target. We finished top of the group and qualified for the quarter finals. The first job has been very well done. Cameroon is Cameroon; we came here for the trophy. My players are very concentrated and ready for the match. We are starting a new phase and we have to win against Cote d’Ivoire.

Argentina Condors scored their first WSB win of Season VI as they edged past Venezuela Caciques in spectacular fashion in Buenos Aires on Friday night. With the match tied at 2-2 going in to the final bout, Kevin Espindola kept his cool to deliver a match-winning performance, delighting the home fans.

It was the Condors' Christian Roda who set the tone from the opening contest, stepping up against Caciques’ AMBC American Confederation Champion Yoel Finol. The Venezuelan looked to be in control in the early exchanges, but after knocking down the southpaw mid-way through the third round, Roda’s confidence visibly grew, and he powered through to take the first bout and give the hosts an unlikely advantage.

© Kirby Lee
London 2012 Olympic Games women’s pole vault champion Jenn Suhr added a centimetre to her own world indoor record * when she cleared 5.03m at the Golden Eagle Multi and Invitational in Brockport, New York state, on Saturday (30).

Her previous world indoor record of 5.02m came in Albuquerque on 2 March, 2013.
* Subject to the usual ratification conditions

© Foto-net

Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid have each lodged an appeal before the FIFA Appeal Committee against the decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee that sanctioned the clubs for breaches relating to the international transfer and registration of players under the age of 18.

The appeals have been granted suspensive effect by the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee until the Appeal Committee has taken and notified its decision on the merits of the appeal lodged by each club. 

Breakdown of FIBA Basketball fans by social networks

MIES - FIBA would like to give a hearty thanks to the 5 million fans that followed FIBA basketball on social media in 2015.

Whether it was on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Sina Weibo, LinkedIn, Vine, Periscope, Google+, WeChat, Dailymotion or Youku, there were plenty of basketball supporters who engaged every day on multiple platforms.

​Francois Hougaard, Juan de Jongh, Cheslin Kolbe and the rest of the Springbok Sevens squad have their attention firmly focussed on Scotland, their first opponents at the Wellington Sevens which kicks of early Saturday morning (SA time).
 
However, the team suffered an injury blow when Ryno Benjamin was ruled out of the next two tournaments after injuring his calf during training on Thursday morning, joining a number of key players on the side-lines.

​South Africa under-19s suffered a 43-run defeat at the hands of host, Bangladesh, in the opening match of the ICC U19 World Cup 2016 in Chittagong on Wednesday.
 
Spin bowling seems to continue to be a problem for the young Proteas as they struggled to score runs and keep wickets intact, while the opposition had no such problems, posting 240/7 in their 50 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first.